Just a day after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced that two U.S. hikers being held in his country would be released within days, an Iranian judiciary official on Wednesday denied the reports of their imminent release as “wrong.”

“The two Americans are going to stay in prison for a bit longer. Reports of their imminent release are wrong,” the official was quoted on Iran’s English-language Press TV, Reuters reported.

Meanwhile, Iran’s judiciary said in a statement that bail for the two men are still under consideration.

“Two American citizens charged with espionage have not been released. Request from lawyers of these two defendants to issue bail and free (them) is under study,” the Islamic Republic News Agency, a state-run news agency, quoted the statement as saying, according to the Associated Press. “Information about this case will be provided by the judiciary. Any information supplied by individuals about this is not authoritative.”

In an interview with NBC News that aired Tuesday, Ahmadinejad said Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, who were sentenced to eight years in prison last month on espionage charges, would be freed in “two days,” and called their upcoming release a “humanitarian gesture.”

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday told reporters she was “encouraged” by the news, and that the administration will hope to see a “positive outcome.”

The families of Bauer and Fattal had also said they were “overjoyed” to hear reports of their imminent release.

“We’re grateful to everyone who has supported us and looking forward to our reunion with Shane and Josh. We hope to say more when they are finally back in our arms,” they said in a statement.

Bauer and Fattal were arrested while hiking on the Iran-Iraq border in July 2009. A third American hiker, Sarah Shourd, was also arrested at the time, but was released on a $500,000 bail in September 2010.

Asked about the new developments by reporters on board Air Force One en route to North Carolina Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said he had no “new reaction” to the news.

“Obviously we want to see that issue resolved and the hikers brought home,” he said.